Memories
by GryphonoftheNorth
Summary: Series of ficlets about Pre- and Post-Marni Nathan, might be Post-Nathan Shilo.
1. Betrayer

"You're going to be okay, Marni." The man promised, clasping the sick woman's hand in his own like it was a lifeline. She was going to get better because she had to. She just had to. "I'm working on a cure right now."

"I know," She smiled weakly, her free hand drifted over her swollen belly. "I just worry about the baby…I don't…I can't…" She broke off, gritting her teeth against the tears the sprang to her eyes at the thought. She couldn't lose this baby.

"Listen," Her husband said softly, leaning forward slightly. "If it comes to either you or the baby…We can always make another one--"

"Nathan Wallace, don't you _dare_." Marni interrupted, her tone deadly. "Don't you dare say that. Not about this, not about our child."

"Marni, _please_!" He begged, eyes searching hers as he tried to get her to see the sense in it. "You can't be replaced!"

"Neither can Shilo!" She insisted, taking back her hand to rest protectively against her stomach. "How can I live with myself if I live because she dies? How can I live without her?"

Nathan frowned slightly, "Shilo? Marni, we don't even know if it's a girl yet. Isn't it a little soon for naming?"

"I know," She whispered, laying her head back. Her little outburst had tired her already weakened body. "I…It just feels right. I needed to give her a name, a sex. Just to make it more real."

"You're tired. I shouldn't have upset you, I'm sorry." He stood, "You need your rest…"

"Wait," She grabbed his hand gently, stopping him. "Promise me. Promise that if one of has to die…That it'll be me."

"Marni…" Why couldn't she understand?! She was sick, tired, surely she wasn't thinking clearly.

"Promise."

"I promise." He sighed, defeated.

She smiled up at him, trusting. Of course, why wouldn't she trust him? He was her husband, her friend, her doctor. She had no ideas the traitorous thoughts he harbored. "I love you, Nate." She whispered, squeezing his hand weakly even as her eyelids drifted downwards.

"I love you too, Marni." He replied, leaning down to kiss her gently on the forehead before leaving the dim little room. He paused at the doorway, watching her sleep for a moment. She was so peaceful, all the traces of her previous anxiety wiped clear by blissful unconsciousness. Oh, how he envied her in that respect…

He shook his head. No time for dawdling. He was on the verge of completing her cure and with the baby coming so soon she needed to get better. If she recovered then neither mother nor child needed to die. But if it came to a choice between the two…

"I'm sorry," He whispered to himself, a painful lump in his throat as he shook his head ever so slightly. "But I can't do that, Marni. I can't lose you." Closing the door firmly he retreated to his lab. A nagging voice in the back of his mind followed him.

_Murderer. Betrayer. Monster._


	2. Meeting

**A/N: Next fixlet! This one is Nathan and Marni first meeting. The kid is Graverobber, by the way, just because XD R&R!**

Marni smiled to herself as she slipped into the alley behind Mag's home, dodging the sight of her driver waiting in the car parked out front. She swore that Rotti wouldn't let her feet touch the ground if it were possible. The car ready to take her anywhere was nice, certainly, but sometimes she enjoyed just walking.

On the other hand, sneaking away meant walking through…_this_. Zydrate addicts passed out against dumpsters while those who couldn't afford a hit begged at the feet of their dealers. She even saw a body, blood just coagulating, its heart having been ripped out by skilled hands and precise cuts. A Repoman's work. She shuddered at the sight. One of the few things that made her really uneasy about Rotti. How could he makes _that _legal?

And there was a little boy, all alone as he sat on the steps leading to the backdoor of some dingy building. Poor kid.

"Where's your mom?" Marni asked softly, not wanting to scare him away. She knelt in front of him, getting closer to his eye level.

"In there," He mumbled after a long pause, his wide blue eyes staring at her, mistrusting. "She's with a client. It'll probably be a while, he looked like he had a lot of money."

She frowned and started to say something, but the boy interrupted her. He gasped, eyes fixed on something just behind her before he bolted down the alley, leaving her in his dust. Marni froze, adrenaline spiking. What could of scared him so badly? Whatever it was, it was in a dank alley, it was behind her, and she was alone. Oh, God. Oh, God.

She stood ever so slowly, one hand curling into a fist. What were you supposed to do when attacked? Scream? Oh yes, _that_ would help. Who would hear her? The stoned girl laying in the garbage?

She felt something touch her shoulder. "Exc--" BAM! She spun around punching he right in the face. And it hurt. A lot. "Ow!" She hissed, recoiling, her hand aching.

"Oh my God…Ahh…What was that for?!" The man cried out, clutching his nose. He looked…not that threatening, actually. His neat suit and carefully combed hair were definitely odd among vagrants clad in whatever they own, which doesn't include a comb. Well, he did have a dribble of blood running from his nose, but she supposed that was her fault.

"What do you want?" Marni demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I just wanted directions to the GeneCo building. I haven't been on the Island for that long and I'm quite lost." He explained, keeping his distance as he wiped the blood from under his nose with the back of his hand. "My name is Nathan Wallace, I'm a doctor."

Marni blinked. "Oh, well, sorry for that." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well, its you're lucky day, because I just happen to know exactly were the GeneCo building is. In fact, I'll take you there and get you a meeting with Rotti Largo himself. It's the least I can do."

"W-What? No, that's too much. I'm fine really, just point me the way…" Nathan said, hastily trying to refuse the offer.

"Nonsense." She waved away his protests, "Come on, there's a car and driver right over here."


	3. Letters

**A/N: This ones kinda short, but thats okay ^^ _Please_ review! Pretty please! They make me so happy.**

_Dear Shilo,_

_I'm not sure what I should say, just that I have to say it. That doesn't make sense, does it? Nevermind. I don't know when you're reading this. Maybe I'm dead and gone and you've found this, maybe I gave this to you myself. It doesn't change what I want to tell you. The truth._

_You're mother made me promise to save you over her if I had to choose. She was very ill during her pregnancy with you and when I tried to cure her there were…complications. I could only save one of you, and though I never expected it, I chose you. It's my fault your mother is dead, Shilo, and if I had done what I planned you'd probably have died too. _

_I hated you at first, you know. I blamed you almost as much as I did myself for Marni's sickness and it hurt just to look at you, to see her in you. But seeing you as I write this, so small, so perfect, I realize…I love you. More than you can ever know. And I _need _you to know that._

_I don't know what the future holds, but as long as you're in it…everything will be okay. _

_Love,_

He paused, his pen hovering over the paper as he considered what to put. Nathan Wallace? No, too formal. Father? Same. Daddy was too fluffy…

_Dad._

He set his pen down just as Shilo's fussing could be heard from the next room. He smiled, speak of the devil. Folding the letter carefully he stuck it in his desk drawer with one last fleeting look before leaving.

"Someday you'll know the truth, Shilo, no need to be impatient."


	4. Graves

**A/N: I...just kinda randomly wrote this O.o So...enjoy and review. (To anyone waiting for an update on my Repo crack!fic, sorry its taking so long x.x Someones borrowing my DVD and I'm incredibly lazy. I'll try to get more up soon.)**

"Hey, Dad. It's me again." The words were barely a whisper, little more than her mouthing the words. Her gaze stayed steadily fixed on the little plot of land, crowned with a simple stone marker bearing his name. Nathan Wallce 2016-2056.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, the only ones she cried these days were when she came here. It was wrong for him to be here, this simple grave among many. She had asked, begged, that they bury him in his mother's crypt, which she ad found to be empty, but no. GeneCo had insisted on doing it themselves, their way. Be glad he isn't in some mass grave, they told her. No, that injustice was just too great. So she went along with it, and here he was.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

"Who's there?" She asked, not even turning to see who it was. What did it matter? It wasn't likely they wanted to hurt her and if they did, let them. Her life wasn't going where anyways. Sometimes she just wondered what the point of it all was. Why she kept going on.

"Kid?" The voice was so familiar, though it had been a year since she'd last heard it. No wonder, she rarely left the house these days except for food and her simple job as a store clerk. But she remembered. Who he was. What he did. Her hands curled into fists by her sides. No. Not him. Not her father. No more injustice.

"Don't you dare touch him." Shilo said in a tone so dangerous it would make Nathan proud as she spun around to face him, her jaw set. He stopped in his tracks, looking surprised, though whether it was her reaction or her presence there she didn't know. She didn't care. "Don't you _dare_ touch him or I swear _God _I'll…I'll…"

"Woah, Kid. Clam down." Graverobber blinked, resisting the urge to back away a few steps. "Haven't seen you around lately. Why so worked up?"

There was a long pause as the girl stared back at the grave, taking several deep breaths before answering. It was simple, just a single sentence, but those whispered words held the last year of her life within them. "He's my dad."

"Oh," The realization was simple. What else would she think, seeing a grave robber walk among her father's grave? "I'm sorry, Kid. I would never…"

"Just…Please leave." She sounded more defeated then angry now, like the weight of the world lay on her shoulders.

"I…Okay. See ya around, Kid." Shrugging to himself the drug dealer walked past her, pausing only once to glance back and call, "Take care of yourself, okay?" though he didn't wait for an answer. Places to be, people to see, drugs to sell. All in a nights work.

"Yeah, see ya." Shilo said tonelessly, her heart not in it. Her mind was on other things. The girl knelt, one hand gently fingering the loose dirt her shoes had kicked up. Her dad. That's what her whole life had been about and that's what it would be about in the future. Not forever though, just for now. She would live for him, because it's what he would've wanted. Someday that'll change though. She'll find love, a career, a purpose. Someday it'll be about her. Someday.

"I love you , Dad."


	5. Dying

They say your life flashes before your eyes when you were about to die. Nathan Wallace wasn't sure who 'they' were, but he knew they were wrong. How many times had _they_ died? If anyone would know it'd be him, the dealer of death for seventeen years who now lay bleeding on the stage. You certainly didn't see your past, and for that he was glad.

He saw his daughter, staring fearfully down at him, her eyes wide as she watched her father slowly die. All her fault, all her fault. He could see it in her eyes. No, his fault. All his fault. Marni, Shilo. All his fault. She was so beautiful. Her face smeared with his blood and cheeks stained with tears, yet as beautiful as he'd ever seen her. So alive, so much like her mother.

Rotti. Damn that man. If he were to blame anyone as much as he did himself it would be him. He'd hated Nathan, used him, ever since Marni had chosen him over the other man. And then when he killed her…When he poisoned his own wife…He just…He just…He'd been stupid, foolish and stupid. But he couldn't have let Shilo know what he'd done, she'd never forgive him. Still though…A doctor, a profession meant to save lives, twisted and changed until he was a pet murderer. A killer, a monster.

Marni…No, Shilo…His eyes closed, too heavy to keep open anymore and after a moment he vaguely felt her leave him. No! No, she couldn't leave him. Lonely…So lonely. He tried to lift a hand to stop her, but it was made of lead, stuck to the stage. His whole body was like that, the aching pain in his chest, in his heart, slowing fading into cold numbness. Marni? Marni? Where was she? He'd waited so long for her…and where was she?

There! There! Her voice whispered in his mind, calling him away from the cruel world he'd suffered through alone for so many years. Not the cruel, imposter voices that muttered things to him, that call him what he is. No, this was Marni and he wanted to go with her. And so he did.


End file.
